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margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-GROdP9BN_Mo\/VhEOCX6G9eI\/AAAAAAAABCs\/nhURVHRfVew\/s1600\/Into_the_river.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-GROdP9BN_Mo\/VhEOCX6G9eI\/AAAAAAAABCs\/nhURVHRfVew\/s320\/Into_the_river.jpg\" width=\"282\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\"I have always imagined paradise as a kind of library.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIf -- as I imagine -- you're visiting Books in the City because you like reading about books, chances are you've already encountered this quote from the great Argentinian poet, writer, and essayist Jorge Luis Borges.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMaybe you also know that for many years Borges earned his living as \"first assistant\" at a municipal library in Buenos Aires, cataloging books down in the basement (also, apparently, catching up on his reading), until he was dismissed for political reasons when Juan Perón came to power – only to be appointed the director of the National Public Library of Argentina after Perón was deposed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMy appreciation of this feel-good quote for readers par excellence was turned upside down recently when I read Paul Monette’s \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/discover.elgar.govt.nz\/iii\/encore\/search\/C__S%09%20Borrowed%20time%20%5Belectronic%20resource%5D%20%3A%20an%20AIDS%20memoir%20Lw%3D%3D%20Paul%20Monette.__Orightresult__U?lang=eng\u0026amp;suite=def\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EBorrowed time: an Aids memoir\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003C\/a\u003E Monette's friend Roger Horwitz (I use the word 'friend' because in the book Monette spends some time telling us how it is the term he prefers to use for what another might call lovers or partners), under assault from HIV in the pre-antiretroviral days, comes to the traumatic realisation that he is losing his sight. Monette recalls Borges, who famously also lost his sight in mid-life, and reveals -- guess what! That the quote as we’ve been fed it is all wrong!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EBorges was not musing dreamily about his enjoyment of books. He was commenting on how his encroaching blindness meant that he would never be able to read again (this was the 1950s, no audiobooks, and he never learned Braille). And this twist of fate had happened to him, of all people -- “I, who had always thought Paradise to be a kind of library”.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIronically, a decade earlier, in his famous story \"The Library of Babel\", Borges had described how the very infinity of the hexagons of the library which held all books meant that the possibility of finding any one book was equal to zero, and how this made men despair:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe certitude that some shelf in some hexagon held precious books and that these precious books were inaccessible, seemed almost intolerable.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe other night I went to hear Ted Dawe\u0026nbsp;talk at Central City Library about his book \u003Ci\u003EInto the River,\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;which had been\u0026nbsp;banned in New Zealand by the Office of Film and Literature Classification while their board of review examined a submission from the conservative Christian lobby group Family First.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat powerful things came out of the mouth of this white-haired ex-teacher of English (35 years, Aorere College, Dilworth School) and author of acclaimed books for young adults, including \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/discover.elgar.govt.nz\/iii\/encore\/search\/C__SThunder%20road%20Lw%3D%3D%20Ted%20Dawe.__Orightresult__U?lang=eng\u0026amp;suite=def\"\u003EThunder Road\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;(New Zealand Post Children's Senior Book of the Year and\u0026nbsp;New Zealand Post Best First Book in 2004) and \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/discover.elgar.govt.nz\/iii\/encore\/search\/C__S%09%20Into%20the%20river%20Lw%3D%3D%20Ted%20Dawe.__Orightresult__U?lang=eng\u0026amp;suite=def\"\u003EInto the river\u003C\/a\u003E \u003C\/i\u003E(New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year and Best Young Adult Fiction Book in 2013), with his firm but lightly quizzical expression.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn being a writer:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"I write from a sense of mission. I want to create readers by giving them a powerful and memorable experience. I believe one novel can create a reader. I know it can, because it happened to me.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"Inspiring new readers has been my life's work.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"My iwi is the tribe of writers.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAbout \u003Ci\u003EInto the River:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"I wanted to tell a powerful story and leave nothing out.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"The events depicted in the novel are blunt, coarse, immoral, illegal and shocking. But never gratuitous. Every one has a reason.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn its banning:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"Writers hold a mirror up to the world and sometimes the world doesn't like what it sees. This is true in New Zealand. If 'Into The River' has made aspects of our society look ugly, then hiding the mirror will not make it beautiful again.\"\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003EOn the importance of reading:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\"Novels are the last bastion of introspection.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn his reaction when he was notified the book was being examined:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u0026nbsp;\"I didn't realise we still censored books!\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs we headed out of the library, we passed a display which had been put up for the occasion, pictured above. I had been well aware of the long travail of \u003Ci\u003EInto the River,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003Ein and out of the censor's office, on and off our shelves, but the combination of Dawe's words, scribbled in my little notebook, and the physical representation of those small rectangular objects (smaller than a breadbox!) which according to some people are so dangerous that they must be kept off library shelves, made the oppression suddenly overwhelming. How did Borges put it? \"Almost intolerable\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EToday, the news is just in that the Film and Literature Classification Board of Review, following an appeal by Auckland Libraries to lift the 14+ restriction on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ci\u003EInto the river, \u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;a counter-appeal by Family First and a subsequent restriction order banning the book from being given, lent or even exhibited, have now made their decision. \u003Ci\u003EInto the river \u003C\/i\u003Eis to be \"unrestricted\". We are releasing all our copies back on to the shelves and\/or into the hands of the more than fifty readers who optimistically put themselves on the wait list.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt would be nice to think that some of those who were lobbying for it to be restricted are on that list, but I doubt it. As Ted Dawe pointed out:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe book's critics often start by saying \u0026nbsp;\"I've never read the book and I don't intend to.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003EWhat does that tell you?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-BP5u0Ttm2iM\/VhEUZYG4qBI\/AAAAAAAABC8\/e5_jlX42ES0\/s1600\/Ted_Dawe.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-BP5u0Ttm2iM\/VhEUZYG4qBI\/AAAAAAAABC8\/e5_jlX42ES0\/s320\/Ted_Dawe.JPG\" width=\"318\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003ETed Dawe at Central Library, unable lawfully to \"exhibit\" his book\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E* * * * * * * * * * * * * *\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFind out more:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERead an \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/aucklandlibrariesstories.blogspot.co.nz\/2015\/09\/into-river-and-banned-books.html#more\"\u003Einterview\u003C\/a\u003E with Michelle Baker, Acting Manager of the Information Unit at the Office of Film and Literature Classification.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EListen to a podcast of the talk:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ciframe frameborder=\"no\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/227065648\u0026amp;color=ff5500\u0026amp;auto_play=false\u0026amp;hide_related=false\u0026amp;show_comments=true\u0026amp;show_user=true\u0026amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5563933680717152165\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2015\/10\/into-river-is-no-longer-banned-book.html#comment-form","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5563933680717152165"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5563933680717152165"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2015\/10\/into-river-is-no-longer-banned-book.html","title":"Into the river is no longer a banned book!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Karen Craig"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/18310967522076681423"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"23","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-WaLn2rFYxqE\/UNvHlimMvBI\/AAAAAAAAABY\/ceYnAw1lZEk\/s220\/The%2BLibrarian.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-GROdP9BN_Mo\/VhEOCX6G9eI\/AAAAAAAABCs\/nhURVHRfVew\/s72-c\/Into_the_river.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-7577639771017581278"},"published":{"$t":"2014-09-27T15:42:00.000+12:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-11-20T22:30:43.459+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Banned Books Week"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Henry Miller"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"William Pynchon"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Banned Books Week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-IwAmQX9JbTc\/VCiwb5H6TLI\/AAAAAAAAAns\/xeWTimXulkU\/s1600\/banned%2Bbooks%2Bpin.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-IwAmQX9JbTc\/VCiwb5H6TLI\/AAAAAAAAAns\/xeWTimXulkU\/s1600\/banned%2Bbooks%2Bpin.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EMy award for Best Headline of Banned Books Week goes to Melville House Publishers for \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.mhpbooks.com\/texas-school-district-couldnt-even-wait-until-the-end-of-this-week-to-ban-some-books\/\"\u003E\"Texas school district thinks 'Banned Books Week' means they’re supposed to ban books this week\"\u003C\/a\u003E, with which they called attention to the decision on the part of a school district in Texas to pull a new crop of books from the school curriculum. In other words, the school board doesn't subscribe to the sentiment voiced by the great, banned-in-his-time writer and philosopher Voltaire: \"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI must say it's good to see Banned Books Week getting ever greater, and wittier, attention in the media, as well in that old stalwart, libraries (it is, in fact, an initiative of the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.ala.org\/bbooks\/bannedbooksweek\"\u003EAmerican Library Association\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI'm proud to have two personal ties to Banned Books. The first is that it was my 10th great-grandfather, William Pynchon, who wrote the first book to be banned in the New World. It happened in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1650, and the book was called \u003Ci\u003EThe Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, Justification, etc\u003C\/i\u003E. It refuted the Puritan belief that punishment and suffering were the price of atonement, and as such the order went out for it to be burned -- by the colony's executioner, no less -- the very next day, on the Boston Common.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ibrw_p0Zt50\/VCgLb2szcqI\/AAAAAAAAAnQ\/NUT3ytpWaPw\/s1600\/meritorious-price.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ibrw_p0Zt50\/VCgLb2szcqI\/AAAAAAAAAnQ\/NUT3ytpWaPw\/s1600\/meritorious-price.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"236\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EIts author, perhaps because of his standing as an important businessman (exporter of beaver pelts) and a magistrate, was given time to retract-- or be tried for heresy and receive the same treatment as his book. He wisely precluded the need for either by heading back across the sea to England, where he continued to write tracts until his death 12 years later.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENine copies of the book survived and here is one of them, held at the Congregational Library in Boston. The blog where I found it, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.churchhistory.org\/blogs\/blog\/banned-books-week-and-an-incident-in-boston\/\"\u003EHistory of Christianity\u003C\/a\u003E, points out that this is one book which the Puritans \u003Ci\u003Ecould\u003C\/i\u003E have judged by its cover. Just look at that subtitle:   \u003Ci\u003EClearing it from some common Errors. \u003C\/i\u003ESeriously?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nBZD_b-qjp8\/VCgN7mSdxTI\/AAAAAAAAAnc\/RjOgIF3WqGw\/s1600\/sexus.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nBZD_b-qjp8\/VCgN7mSdxTI\/AAAAAAAAAnc\/RjOgIF3WqGw\/s1600\/sexus.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"135\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003EMy other claim to banned books fame is having smuggled Henry Miller through US Customs at the tender age of eight. Not Henry Miller in person, but a number of books by him which my father had purchased in Paris (Olympia Press's aptly named \"Traveller's Companion\" editions, as pictured) while the American courts were still debating whether they were obscene or not, and popped into his daughters' little tote bags for the re-entry onto U.S. soil and into U.S. jurisdiction.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI was just remembering with my sister this weekend the heady moment when, tired out by standing in line at LA airport, and perhaps from lugging her tote bag (no cute little wheeled suitcases back then!), she began feeling faint and our parents were frantically trying to get us through before she keeled over and drew the agents' attention to us. She remembers the books as being by DH Lawrence, so it looks as if each daughter might have carried a different banned author.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt was the attempt by Grove Press to publish Henry Miller's \u003Ci\u003ETropic of Cancer \u003C\/i\u003Ein the United States which led to the obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography. Witnesses for the defense included a professor of medieval literature at Harvard, who testified (quoted in \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/1961\/9\/28\/tropic-of-cancer-trial-closes-its\/\"\u003EThe Harvard Crimson\u003C\/a\u003E),\u003C\/i\u003E about the \"meaningless and irrational\" social conventions around the use of some words: \"Words of Latin and French derivation referring to the sex act and bodily organs are acceptable in English, Bloomfield testified, but words of Anglo-Saxon origin with identical meanings are tabu.\" Indisputably.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe case was heard by the Superior Court of Suffolk County (Massachusetts, again!), which decided that the book was indeed protected by the First Amendment. I love this passage from the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/masscases.com\/cases\/sjc\/345\/345mass11.html\"\u003Eopinion\u003C\/a\u003E: \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EThat a serious work uses four letter words and has a grossly offensive tone does not mean that the work is not entitled to constitutional protection. Much in modern art, literature, and music is likely to seem ugly and thoroughly objectionable to those who have different standards of taste. It is not the function of judges to serve as arbiters of taste or to say that an author must regard vulgarity as unnecessary to his portrayal of particular scenes or characters or to establish particular ideas. Within broad limits each writer, attempting to be a literary artist, is entitled to determine such matters for himself, even if the result is as dull, dreary, and offensive as the writer of this opinion finds almost all of Tropic. Competent critics assert, and we conclude, that Tropic has serious purpose, even if many will find that purpose obscure.\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPersonally I prefer \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/search.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz\/?itemid=|library\/marc\/supercity-iii|b1981348\"\u003ETropic of Capricorn\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003C\/i\u003Ewhich was the second of Miller's two autobiographical novels but describes his early days in Brooklyn, to \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/search.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz\/?itemid=|library\/marc\/supercity-iii|b1174657\"\u003ETropic of Cancer\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003C\/i\u003Ethe one written first, which covers the time after his move to Paris, and is I think the more noted of the two, perhaps because it includes his love affair with cult personage Anaïs Nin. I remember as a teenager devouring the very\u0026nbsp;\u003Ci\u003ETropic of Capricorn\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003EI'd sneaked through US customs,\u0026nbsp;a full-immersion in Brooklyn in the twenties, as experienced by an irrepressibly high-energy, high sex-drive, very funny, quixotic genius.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E(\u003Ci\u003EGenius and lust \u003C\/i\u003Ewas the name Norman Mailer gave his book about Henry Miller's works.)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESome past Books in the City posts you might enjoy about banned books and censorship:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.co.nz\/2011\/09\/mark-twain-on-banning-huck-finn.html\"\u003EMark Twain on banning Huck Finn\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.co.nz\/2011\/09\/banned-books-week-dinner-party.html\"\u003EBanned Books Week dinner party\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.co.nz\/2008\/10\/a-funny-story-about-censorship.html\"\u003EA funny story about censorship\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7577639771017581278\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/not-only-do-i-read-banned-books-but.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/7577639771017581278"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/7577639771017581278"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/not-only-do-i-read-banned-books-but.html","title":"Banned Books Week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Karen Craig"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/18310967522076681423"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"23","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-WaLn2rFYxqE\/UNvHlimMvBI\/AAAAAAAAABY\/ceYnAw1lZEk\/s220\/The%2BLibrarian.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-IwAmQX9JbTc\/VCiwb5H6TLI\/AAAAAAAAAns\/xeWTimXulkU\/s72-c\/banned%2Bbooks%2Bpin.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-5931467199363531496"},"published":{"$t":"2012-10-31T04:30:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-07-23T23:18:33.430+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen. Science Fiction"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ray Bradbury"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Raymond Chandler"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Remembering Ray Bradbury"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-9UwBmngSBPs\/UMUFFWLK8lI\/AAAAAAAAKDY\/gjJmT25jWt4\/s1600\/Fahrenheit_451.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"190\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-9UwBmngSBPs\/UMUFFWLK8lI\/AAAAAAAAKDY\/gjJmT25jWt4\/s400\/Fahrenheit_451.jpg\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EHe wrote the novel whose title evokes for everyone the nightmare it would be to live in a world which has banned all books, and his favourite holiday was Hallowe’en. So October is a good time to remember Ray Bradbury, who died this year at the age of 91, by passing on a letter he wrote to an American librarian about composing that very novel, \u003Ci\u003EFahrenheit 451\u003C\/i\u003E, in the basement of the Powell Library at UCLA.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPowell Library is that Italian Renaissance-style brick building (I can make this architectural call because it strongly resembles a Brunelleschi rotonda in Florence I remember very clearly, from having once driven my boyfriend's brand new Vespa smack into it) which you will have seen if you have ever watched a Hollywood movie with a scene which takes place at a University, no matter what state or city it is purported to be located in. In fact, I remember seeing it stand in for Berkeley just recently when \u003Ci\u003EThe Graduate\u003C\/i\u003E was on TV.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd this of course is perfect for Ray Bradbury, who always used to say that libraries had been his University, just as Prof. Jim Flynn says can be true for everyone in the book he presented at Auckland Libraries for last year's New Zealand Book Month, \u003Ci\u003EThe torchlight list. \u003C\/i\u003EThe inspiration for Prof. Flynn’s book was the family story of his uncles reading by torchlight on the troopships carrying them to Europe, but it could just as well have been Ray Bradbury, who did at one point apply to attend City College in Los Angeles, but, when the only answer he could come up with when a ‘little elf’ inside him asked him why he would want to was “Girls, women and sex”, decided he wouldn’t go there after all, but devote himself straight away to being a writer.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHere's the letter he sent the Fayetteville Public Library fifty odd years later, when the book he then went and wrote was chosen for their \"Big Read\", about how that had gone. I came across it on a website called \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.lettersofnote.com\/search\/label\/raybradbury\"\u003ELetters of Note\u003C\/a\u003E (where you can also see a scan of the actual letter), a site featuring \"correspondence deserving of a wider audience (fakes will be sneered at)\", and this it certainly is.   \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003ESeptember 15, 2006 \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EDear Shawna Thorup: \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EI'm glad to hear that you good people will be celebrating my book, \"Fahrenheit 451.\" I thought you might want to hear how the first version of it, 25,000 words and which appeared in a magazine, got done. \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EI needed an office and had no money for one. Then one day I was wandering around U.C.L.A. and I heard typing down below in the basement of the library. I discovered there was a typing room where you could rent a typewriter for ten cents a half hour. I moved into the typing room along with a bunch of students and my bag of dimes, which totaled $9.80, which I spent and created the 25,000 word version of \"The Fireman\" in nine days. How could I have written so many words so quickly? It was because of the library. All of my friends, all of my loved ones, were on the shelves above and shouted, yelled and shrieked at me to be creative. So I ran up and down the stairs, finding books and quotes to put in my \"Fireman\" novella. You can imagine how exciting it was to do a book about book burning in the very presence of the hundreds of my beloveds on the shelves. It was the perfect way to be creative; that's what the library does. \u003Cbr \/\u003EI hope you enjoy reading my passionate output, which became larger a few years later and became popular, thank God, with a lot of people. \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EI send you all my good wishes, \u003Cbr \/\u003E(Signed)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003EOn the occasion of his 90th birthday, Bradbury wrote a longer version of this story for \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.spotlight.ucla.edu\/ray-bradbury\/hot-topic\/\"\u003EUCLA magazine\u003C\/a\u003E, where you can see a photo of Powell Library, the place my sister, who went to UCLA, remembers as the best place to daydream on the whole campus.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-HWXeSnvOf-4\/UOgFhRxVUxI\/AAAAAAAAACk\/Kux1yrSwUA4\/s1600\/The_Bradbury_Chronicles.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-HWXeSnvOf-4\/UOgFhRxVUxI\/AAAAAAAAACk\/Kux1yrSwUA4\/s200\/The_Bradbury_Chronicles.jpg\" width=\"134\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003ESomeone named Sam Weller, believe it or not, as if he were one of the exiles from the society which had outlawed books in \u003Ci\u003EFahrenheit 451\u003C\/i\u003E, the ones who had each memorised a book to keep it alive, and his would have been \u003Ci\u003EThe Pickwick Papers\u003C\/i\u003E, has written a book about Ray Bradbury called \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.elgar.govt.nz\/record=b1983470~S1\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe Bradbury chronicles : the life of Ray Bradbury\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. I haven't read it myself, but the reviews on the library catalogue for it are good, although I need to remark on this odd line in the one from Publishers Weekly:\u0026nbsp; \"If Weller places Bradbury in a pantheon occupied by Shakespeare, Melville, Dickens and Poe, he also mentions more than one extramarital affair and his hero's poor eating habits.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAm I reading this correctly? Is this saying that extramarital affairs are in contrast with inclusion in this exalted pantheon? Shakespeare’s love life may still be anyone’s guess, but Jay Parini’s book \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.elgar.govt.nz\/record=b2521625~S1\"\u003EThe passages of HM\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E convinced even dubious me of the married Melville’s \"unambiguous attraction in thought and deed to men\"; the married Charles Dickens’s behavior after meeting and falling in love with the actress Ellen Ternan was described by his daughter Kate like this: \"He did not care a damn what happened to any of us. Nothing could surpass the misery and unhappiness of our home\"; and while Edgar Allan Poe's reputation is not besmirched by marital infidelity, there is that fact that he married a 13 year old. Maybe it was more the poor eating habits which threaten to take Bradbury out of the pantheon -- you've got to watch that Campbell's tomato soup, one of his more frequent meals, as I recall.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EBy far my favourite works by Ray Bradbury are his short stories, which, mistakenly apprehensive that they would be too science-fictiony for me, I was only inspired to read when my daughter's Intermediate School English teacher assigned them to her class (forever grateful, Miss Chambers!). Of all the short stories my favourite is \"The Fog Horn\", a wondrous mixture of the mythic, the sorrowful, and the shivery, in which a sea monster is lured from the deep by the call of a Fog Horn -- I picture the long neck of an aquatic, brontosaurus-type animal rising out of the water, draped with algae.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"One day many years ago a man walked along and stood in the sound of the ocean on a cold sunless shore and said, ‘We need a voice to call across the water, to warn ships. I’ll make a voice like all of time and all of the fog that ever was. I’ll make a voice that is like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore. I’ll make a sound that’s so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns. I’ll make me a sound and an apparatus and they’ll call it a Fog Horn and whoever hears it will know the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Fog Horn blew.\" \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/--slSmhmudl0\/UMUFpDaqbVI\/AAAAAAAAKDk\/A8oOo0-BBAY\/s1600\/A_pleasure_to_burn.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/--slSmhmudl0\/UMUFpDaqbVI\/AAAAAAAAKDk\/A8oOo0-BBAY\/s400\/A_pleasure_to_burn.jpg\" width=\"142\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EYou can read the entire story online at \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.grammarpunk.com\/lit\/gp\/THE_FOG_HORN.pdf\"\u003Egrammarpunk.com\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.elgar.govt.nz\/record=b2496486~S1\"\u003EThe stories of Ray Bradbury\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E is an Everyman edition of 100 of Bradbury's best stories, including \"The Fog Horn\". You can read the early stories which eventually became Fahrenheit 451 in \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.elgar.govt.nz\/record=b2624697~S1\"\u003EA pleasure to burn: Fahrenheit 451 stories\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERay Bradbury always said he didn't think of himself as a science fiction writer, because he wasn't interested in getting the science straight. Or maybe because he didn't write stuff like this parody of science fiction which I also found on the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.lettersofnote.com\/2012\/06\/they-pay-brisk-money-for-this-crap.html\"\u003ELetters of Note website\u003C\/a\u003E, in a letter by one of my favourite authors, the crime writer Raymond Chandler, sent from the seaside home in La Jolla where he had moved to get away from Hollywood and its parties where people were always mistaking his wife for his mother (according to Billy Wilder) and its abundance of alcohol, although in the end the move only solved one of these two problems. He is writing to his agent, lamenting the consequent drying-up of his creative powers, which must be one of the most horrible curses which can come down on a man, witness F. Scott Fitzgerald's suicide in slow motion, and Hemingway's abrupt and violent one. So we can forgive him a bit of bitchiness, and would anyway, I hope, because it is so funny. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E6005 Camino de la Costa     La Jolla, California \u003Cbr \/\u003EMar 14 1953\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EDear Swanie: \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EPlayback is getting a bit tired. I have 36,000 words of doodling and not yet a stiff. That is terrible.     I am suffering from a very uncommon disease called (by me) atrophy of the inventive powers. I can write like a streak but I bore myself. That being so, I could hardly fail to bore others worse. I can't help thinking of that beautiful piece of Sid Perelman's entitled \"I'm Sorry I Made Me Cry.\" \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EDid you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It's a scream. It is written like this: \"I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn't enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google had told me it wasn't enough. He was right.\" \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EThey pay brisk money for this crap? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003ERay\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E(On view at the\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.lettersofnote.com\/search\/label\/raymondchandler\"\u003E Letters of Note\u003C\/a\u003E website edited by Shaun Usher. The homepage says a book collection of its contents will be published next month. I'm looking forward to it.) "},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5931467199363531496\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/10\/remembering-ray-bradbury.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5931467199363531496"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5931467199363531496"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/10\/remembering-ray-bradbury.html","title":"Remembering Ray Bradbury"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"tosca"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"28","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-DKeaBNqmKUo\/VBStvJvL4cI\/AAAAAAAAR4M\/ZsfOjoSDymI\/s1600\/*"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-9UwBmngSBPs\/UMUFFWLK8lI\/AAAAAAAAKDY\/gjJmT25jWt4\/s72-c\/Fahrenheit_451.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-4812222226720633726"},"published":{"$t":"2012-10-06T04:30:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-01-26T01:37:20.344+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Matt Bors"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Celebrating the books that cause dangerous thoughts "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-v2NSekNdpt4\/UMUG0glZEHI\/AAAAAAAAKD8\/sY2OirTsEBc\/s1600\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-v2NSekNdpt4\/UMUG0glZEHI\/AAAAAAAAKD8\/sY2OirTsEBc\/s400\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG\" width=\"164\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EIt's Banned Books Week, time to celebrate the freedom to read, as the traditional slogan goes, and the right to read, as a newer one I saw this year for the first time goes. We celebrate the fact that books make people think dangerous thoughts about questioning authority and rebelling against conformity, and above all, we celebrate the fact that when organisations ban books to keep that from happening, the books always outlive the bans.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENowadays in the Western world the out-and-out banning of books by government or religious authorities is not very frequent, but narrow-minded community groups have stepped into the breach with insidious campaigns to get books \"cleaned up\", ie censored, to render them fit for consumption by young people. Or maybe more than \"fit\" they just mean \"easy\". Easy and undistinguished, like fast food.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMatt Bors is a cartoonist and editor at \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.cartoonmovement.com\/\"\u003ECartoon Movement\u003C\/a\u003E whom you may have heard of from his having collaborated with war correspondent David Axe on his talked-about graphic novel memoir about war in the 21st century, \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.elgar.govt.nz\/record=b2508015~S1\"\u003EWar is boring: bored stiff, scared to death in the world's worst war zones\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E. Here is a great cartoon he drew which lampoons this new practice of book-sanitising, from a post called \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mattbors.com\/blog\/?p=3152\"\u003E\"White wash\"\u003C\/a\u003E on his blog \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mattbors.com\/blog\/\"\u003EBors Blog\u003C\/a\u003E (\"comics, politics and ridicule\"): \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-q9oRy89IAgw\/UMUHikigAvI\/AAAAAAAAKEU\/NnzJzkSLPAI\/s1600\/MattBors2.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"290\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-q9oRy89IAgw\/UMUHikigAvI\/AAAAAAAAKEU\/NnzJzkSLPAI\/s400\/MattBors2.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe first panel is true: a sanitised edition of \u003Ci\u003EThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E really was published for use in schools where an understanding of the past, including its evils, is evidently not among the lessons children are supposed to learn. The others, well, I'd like to say clearly not, but I wouldn't swear to it!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERead about Banned Books Week, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.ala.org\/advocacy\/banned\/bannedbooksweek\"\u003Eon the American Library Association website\u003C\/a\u003E."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4812222226720633726\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/10\/celebrating-books-that-cause-dangerous.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/4812222226720633726"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/4812222226720633726"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/10\/celebrating-books-that-cause-dangerous.html","title":"Celebrating the books that cause dangerous thoughts "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"tosca"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"28","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-DKeaBNqmKUo\/VBStvJvL4cI\/AAAAAAAAR4M\/ZsfOjoSDymI\/s1600\/*"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-v2NSekNdpt4\/UMUG0glZEHI\/AAAAAAAAKD8\/sY2OirTsEBc\/s72-c\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-482013510749204010"},"published":{"$t":"2011-10-01T04:00:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-05-06T22:52:51.443+12:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"app"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Apple"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"iPad"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"James Joyce"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ulysses"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Apple censored \"Ulysses\" iPad app!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cb\u003E\"I don't think the Apple representative I first spoke with even knew what Ulysses was\" added the publisher's business manager.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHow did this get by me? Last year on June 16, ie Bloomsday, Alison Flood told the world \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/\/\"\u003Evia the \u003Ci\u003EThe Guardian\u003C\/i\u003E blog\u003C\/a\u003E, about how Apple had just uncensored a censored iPad app of a graphic (in more ways than one) novel adaptation of \u003Ci\u003EUlysses\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-qJF1GqTJlkE\/UFUei-YwB4I\/AAAAAAAAIrs\/DPZac0ih_Uc\/s1600\/james_joyce_ulysses.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-qJF1GqTJlkE\/UFUei-YwB4I\/AAAAAAAAIrs\/DPZac0ih_Uc\/s320\/james_joyce_ulysses.jpg\" width=\"130\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E Throwaway Horse, publishers of the comic, had been told by Apple that if they wanted to make \u003Ci\u003EUlysses Seen\u003C\/i\u003E -- this its name -- an application for the iPad they had to edit out the nudity -- a not-better-specified \"naked woman\" and a naked Buck Mulligan, presumably about to take his morning swim in the waters of Sandycove after descending with Stephen from the Martello Tower, not bad itself as a phallic image.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"Apple's policy had been that app developers should not be permitted to use nudity in any of their images, even if it's pixellated or covered by 'fig leaves'. Our comic has a mature rating (no one under 17 understands Joyce's book anyway), but we were still not allowed to show frank nudity,\" said illustrator Robert Berry. Throwaway cropped and edited as requested for the iPad app, but did continue to show the original images on the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/ulyssesseen.com\/\"\u003EUlysses Seen website\u003C\/a\u003E where the comic is posted, along with a Readers Guide and various other very readable things.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd then, one day, an unexpected phone call and a happy ending: Apple called and offered them the opportunity to resubmit the original drawings. Michael Cavna from the Washington Post talked to Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller about the change of heart for \u003Ci\u003EUlysses Seen\u003C\/i\u003E, and also for another adaptation of a classic, a graphic novel of \u003Ci\u003EThe Importance of Being Earnest\u003C\/i\u003E which showed men kissing. Here's what she told him, as \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/voices.washingtonpost.com\/comic-riffs\/2010\/06\/the_plump_irony_come_bloomsday.html\"\u003Erelated by him in the \"Comic riffs\" blog\u003C\/a\u003E he writes for the Post:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"With \u003Ci\u003EUlysses \u003C\/i\u003Eand \u003Ci\u003EThe Importance of Being Earnest\u003C\/i\u003E, we made a mistake. When [the art] of these graphic novel adaptations was brought to our attention, we called the developers and offered them the opportunity to resubmit. Both [graphic novel apps] are now in the store with the original panel drawings.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI'm curious about what the actual phrase was behind that little paraphrase \"[the art]\". Surely \"[the art] of these graphic novel adaptations\" was visible from the start. I went to the website and read the first chapters and quite liked it - especially when the cat comes in and says her famous \"Mkgnao!\" My only objection is the bright blue sea - what happened to 'snot-green'?\u0026nbsp; Was she talking about [artistic merit seeing as it was based on a classic]? That might have not been visible if, as the Throwaway Horse business manager suspects, you didn't know what the original \u003Ci\u003EUlysses\u003C\/i\u003E was.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI can't help pointing out, however, that it takes a fraction of a second to do a google search for \u003Ci\u003EUlysses\u003C\/i\u003E which will tell you all about its merits, unlike what happens if you want to find out about the novel \u003Ci\u003ELolita\u003C\/i\u003E and have \"Google Safe Search\" set to \"moderate\" on your computer, as I found out earlier this week that this computer I'm writing on does. And I can't modify the setting, and neither could the guy who answered my call to the IT help desk.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI did consider, while I had him on the phone, quizzing him if he knew what \u003Ci\u003EUlysses\u003C\/i\u003E was. But he was so nice I just couldn't turn him into a guinea pig. Or myself into a pedantic fop."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/482013510749204010\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/apple-censored-ulysses-ipad-app.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/482013510749204010"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/482013510749204010"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/apple-censored-ulysses-ipad-app.html","title":"Apple censored \"Ulysses\" iPad app!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"tosca"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"28","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-DKeaBNqmKUo\/VBStvJvL4cI\/AAAAAAAAR4M\/ZsfOjoSDymI\/s1600\/*"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-qJF1GqTJlkE\/UFUei-YwB4I\/AAAAAAAAIrs\/DPZac0ih_Uc\/s72-c\/james_joyce_ulysses.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-6242825847394195028"},"published":{"$t":"2011-09-29T04:00:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-01-06T02:07:53.243+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Mark Twain"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mark Twain on banning Huck Finn"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-XJCpZKPi-j8\/UFUfXfGSgFI\/AAAAAAAAIr4\/GjjqseZSCcs\/s1600\/huckleberry_finn.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-XJCpZKPi-j8\/UFUfXfGSgFI\/AAAAAAAAIr4\/GjjqseZSCcs\/s320\/huckleberry_finn.jpg\" width=\"132\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EShould \u003Ci\u003EThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E be off-limits to children? I didn't dream that Mark Twain himself had answered a resounding \"Yes\" to this question which has been dividing America for years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E Well, I'm cheating a little for the sake of the story. The reason some Americans today think that children should not read \u003Ci\u003EHuckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E is that the book will expose their impressionistic minds to racism. Yes, \u003Ci\u003EHuckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E indubitably depicts an era when slavery existed in half the states of America, and rampant racism in all of them. But how?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe anti-censorship camp points out how the book actually satirises the attitudes of its time, and note that the escaped slave Jim was made out by Mark Twain to be much more admirable than the white people pursuing him.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe censorship camp thinks that all that doesn't matter. Jim is called \"Nigger Jim\" in the book, so the book has to be banned, or, for the milder component, rewritten so that he is called instead \"Slave Jim\". Whom are we kidding, you might ask. Even worse, why are we kidding them? What about their right to know about the historical injustices whose repercussions still affect the society they live in?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESo much for the present and so much for seriousness. Now I'm going to tell you something I just learned during Banned Books Week about Mark Twain, who is never serious, and an attempt over 100 years ago by a crusading young librarian, presumably serious although you do need to suspend your disbelief when you hear what she had to say -- to ban \u003Ci\u003EHuckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E from the Children's Room of the Brooklyn Public Library.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-ZW-WbmEKSMw\/UFUfjj54kwI\/AAAAAAAAIsE\/wBHf3yIuuHY\/s1600\/autobiography_of_mark_twain.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-ZW-WbmEKSMw\/UFUfjj54kwI\/AAAAAAAAIsE\/wBHf3yIuuHY\/s320\/autobiography_of_mark_twain.jpg\" width=\"132\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E The story is contained in an exchange of letters which Mark Twain included in his \u003Ci\u003EAutobiography of Mark Twain\u003C\/i\u003E, between the librarian Asa Dickinson who also worked at the Brooklyn Public Library (and by the way had studied with the great Melvil Dewey, the father of modern librarianship), and himself.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe crusading young librarian, who was Superintendent of the Children's Dept., had found out that there were copies of \u003Ci\u003EHuckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E in the Children's Room (gasp!) and had given orders for them to be removed because Huck and his friend Tom Sawyer were \"bad examples for disingenious youth\". Mr Dickinson, who counted \u003Ci\u003EHuckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E his best reading experience ever, thereupon wrote to Mark Twain asking him if he could intercede on behalf of this book he so loved:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EDear Sir: \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EI happened to be present the other day at a meeting of the children's librarians of the Brooklyn Public Library. In the course of the meeting it was stated that copies of \"Tom Sawyer\" and \"Huckleberry Finn\" were to be found in some of the children's rooms of the system. The Sup't of the Children's Dep't -- a conscientious and enthusiastic young woman -- was greatly shocked to hear this, and at once ordered that they be transferred to the adults' department. Upon this I shamefacedly confessed to having read \"Huckleberry Finn\" aloud to my defenseless blind people, without regard to their age, color, or previous condition of servitude. I also reminded them of Brander Matthews's opinion of the book, and stated the fact that I knew it almost at heart, having got more pleasure from it than from any book I have ever read, and reading is the greatest pleasure I have in my life. My warm defense elicited some further discussion and criticism, from which I gathered what the prevailing opinion of Huck was and that he was a deceitful boy who said \"sweat\" when he should have said \"perspiration.\" \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EThe upshot of this matter was that there is to be further consideration of these books at a meeting early in January which I am especially invited to attend. Seeing you the other night at the performance of \"Peter Pan\" the thought came to me that you (you knows Huck as well as I -- you can't know him better or love him more -- ) might be willing to give me a word or two to say in witness of his good character though he \"warn't no more quality than a mud cat.\" \u003Cbr \/\u003EI would ask as a favor that you regard this communication as confidential, whether you find time to reply to it or not; for I am loath for obvious reasons to bring the institution from which I draw my salary into ridicule, contempt or reproach. \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EYours very respectfully,\u003Cbr \/\u003EAsa Don Dickinson. \u003Cbr \/\u003E(In charge Department for the Blind and Sheepshead Bay Branch, Brooklyn Public Library.)\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHere is the reply:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E21 Fifth Avenue,\u003Cbr \/\u003ENovember 21, 1905\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003EDear Sir: \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote Tom Sawyer \u0026amp; Huck Finn for adults exclusively, \u0026amp; it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, \u0026amp; to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave. Ask that young lady - she will tell you so. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMost honestly do I wish I could say a softening word or two in defence of Huck's character, since you wish it, but really in my opinion it is no better than God's (in the Ahab \u0026amp; 97 others), \u0026amp; the rest of the sacred brotherhood. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIf there is an Unexpurgated [Bible] in the Children's Department, won't you please help that young woman remove Tom \u0026amp; Huck from that questionable companionship? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESincerely yours,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ES. L. Clemens\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn the website \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.twainquotes.com\/index.html\"\u003Ewww.twainquotes.com\u003C\/a\u003E (which if you visit it you can also read features such as \"MARK TWAIN AND THE INFERNAL COUNTESS MASSIGLIA - the lowest-down woman on the planet\" and \"MARK TWAIN'S QUARREL WITH UNDERTAKERS: It All Begins with Jennie\") you can \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.twainquotes.com\/19351102.html\"\u003Eread the original story from \u003Ci\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E  when Asa Dickinson (no longer at Brooklyn Public Library but Head Librarian at Brooklyn College, I couldn't help noting) first made the letters public, in 1935.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/search.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz\/?itemid=|library\/marc\/supercity-iii|b2267289\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E is at our library And so is the \u003Ci\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/search.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz\/?itemid=|library\/marc\/supercity-iii|b2522358\"\u003EAutobiography of Mark Twain\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6242825847394195028\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/mark-twain-on-banning-huck-finn.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/6242825847394195028"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/6242825847394195028"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/mark-twain-on-banning-huck-finn.html","title":"Mark Twain on banning Huck Finn"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"tosca"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"28","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-DKeaBNqmKUo\/VBStvJvL4cI\/AAAAAAAAR4M\/ZsfOjoSDymI\/s1600\/*"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-XJCpZKPi-j8\/UFUfXfGSgFI\/AAAAAAAAIr4\/GjjqseZSCcs\/s72-c\/huckleberry_finn.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2501884760724421053.post-5901381859844476243"},"published":{"$t":"2011-09-27T04:00:00.000+13:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-01-26T01:19:12.349+13:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"banned books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Karen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Banned Books Week dinner party"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-pqlhMVv5SZI\/UFUmoYfFX1I\/AAAAAAAAIsc\/83WYFkPGazE\/s1600\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-pqlhMVv5SZI\/UFUmoYfFX1I\/AAAAAAAAIsc\/83WYFkPGazE\/s320\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG\" width=\"132\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E It's here! I look forward to it all year: Banned Books Week, the occasion for anti-conformists everywhere to revel publicly in the fact that the censors never win out in the end. To get people thinking about whether other people should be able to proclaim themselves the guardians of everyone's values. And of course to have a good laugh: \u003Ci\u003ESlaughterhouse Five\u003C\/i\u003E, Kurt Vonnegut's novel about the fire-bombing of Dresden (talk about books that make you think, I can still remember the feeling I had when I was reading it of being asked to consider something I'd never considered before), was banned from a school in the US for containing \"shocking material\"? What, you mean \u003Ci\u003Ewar\u003C\/i\u003E?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOr what about the the guy who, commenting on a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com\/2009\/08\/19\/a-librarys-approach-to-books-that-offend\/\"\u003ENY Times blog post\u003C\/a\u003E about the Brooklyn Public Library locking away (literally) \u003Ci\u003ETintin in the Congo,\u003C\/i\u003E said that they did right, Tintin is a racist and so is his \"viscous little white dog\"! That's \u003Ci\u003Esic\u003C\/i\u003E, if you were wondering.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI also got a good laugh from the Harry Ransom Center, the famous home for rare books (and films etc) and literary archives at the University of Texas, which invites the public to come commemorate Banned Books Week at a dinner inspired by their exhibition \"Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored\". Here's what \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.hrc.utexas.edu\/events\/\"\u003Etheir website\u003C\/a\u003E says:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"The menu exemplifies the opulence of the 1920s at a time when the government waged war on \"objectionable\" literature, and larger-than-life personalities battled publicly over obscenity, \"clean books,\" and freedom of expression. The menu includes salmon croquettes, Waldorf salad, roast duck with broiled potatoes, carrots, and peas, and pineapple upside-down cake.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESalmon croquettes? Pineapple upside-down cake? What is this? It sounds like Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald having dinner at the Plaza in New York and I don't think they passed the time arguing about clean books! More about how to get a drink with Prohibition on! The place where all the books were being banned in the twenties was Boston, due to the frenetic activity of a certain \"Watch and Ward\" committee in that city (which, in a not-unexpected similar vein, called itself \"The Hub of the Universe\"); thus the phrase, \"Banned in Boston\". Publishers used to try to get their books banned in Boston, because sales immediately shot up everywhere else. I think the menu should have featured Boston Baked Beans and brown bread.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnyway, it got me to thinking about a Banned Books dinner menu which would honour famous banned books. Here's where I've gotten so far:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ya7TAWBtk3U\/UFUm8iUmegI\/AAAAAAAAIso\/baRkUOjLZwc\/s1600\/Lady_Chatterley-s_Lover.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ya7TAWBtk3U\/UFUm8iUmegI\/AAAAAAAAIso\/baRkUOjLZwc\/s320\/Lady_Chatterley-s_Lover.jpg\" width=\"132\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E Henry Miller crudités\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHors d'oeuvres à la mode de Gargantua\u003Cbr \/\u003E- several dozen hams\u003Cbr \/\u003E- smoked beef tongues,\u003Cbr \/\u003E- caviar\u003Cbr \/\u003E- fried tripe\u003Cbr \/\u003E- a shovelful of mustard\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESteak Tartare au \u003Ci\u003EWhite Fang\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMuttonchop au Mellors (aka Lady Chatterley's lover)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIvan Denisovich bread (10.5 oz)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat's missing of course is \u003Ci\u003EUlysses\u003C\/i\u003E, next to \u003Ci\u003ELady Chatterley's Lover\u003C\/i\u003E the most famous banned book of the twenties. But how can you turn a masterwork of a description like this into a menu (as AA Gill said at the Writers and Readers Festival, \"Menus always read horribly because they are written by chefs, and chefs all leave school at 15\")?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E“Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods’ roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5901381859844476243\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/banned-books-week-dinner-party.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5901381859844476243"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2501884760724421053\/posts\/default\/5901381859844476243"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/albooksinthecity.blogspot.com\/2011\/09\/banned-books-week-dinner-party.html","title":"Banned Books Week dinner party"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"tosca"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"28","height":"32","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-DKeaBNqmKUo\/VBStvJvL4cI\/AAAAAAAAR4M\/ZsfOjoSDymI\/s1600\/*"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-pqlhMVv5SZI\/UFUmoYfFX1I\/AAAAAAAAIsc\/83WYFkPGazE\/s72-c\/Banned_Books_Poster.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});